Lola Taubman - December 22, 2009

Being Transported to Auschwitz

How long did the train trip take? How long did it take to get to Auschwitz?

To Auschwitz? Three days.

Why do you suppose it took that long?

Well, there was such traffic. Taking the soldiers back and forth.

Ah, so you'd stop along the way.

Right. And it was not, not going fast. And uh, uh, so then when we arrived there, we, we weren't far from the gate and they said the men should go to one side and the women to the other side.

Do you remember the gate?

Yes, very much. My father came running from his row and said to my mother, "Give me your diamond ring, maybe I can trade it for some food," and then he went back. So I thought that he went--he went with two, with two of my brothers and my mother had my youngest brother. So then they separated her, "Go to the left," and they chose me for work and I--a lot of my cousins who were my age who were selected for work. And, uh...

And was that the last time you saw them?

Yeah. We didn't say goodbye because we thought we were going to stay together. And it was Mengele who stood there and said, "Go to the right," and "Go to the left." And then we, we marched until we got to uh, to uh, Brezinka or, or Birkenau...

Yeah.

...and we went into the shower. And while we were naked, the officer came with a dog and whip, walking among us. And uh, we took a shower and we didn't know what else happened. And they gave us some, some uh, uh, prisoner's clothes and uh, they shaved our hair. And uh, then before we got separated, my aunt recognized her, her brother. So we got a little bit mixed with men, but they brought them so quickly, so quickly. And uh, it didn't take long to find out uh, so then they took us to--Auschwitz was three camps: A, B and C, and Birkenau. And uh, so I was there for a few days. And then they selected us from A to R, and they tattooed us and they sent us to work. So we were marching. At that time our, our barracks in, in Birkenau weren't finished. So we were marching back and forth from the A, A Lager to Birkenau.